Defending the Christian faith and promoting its wisdom against the secular and religious challenges of our day.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Oh Lord, Hear Our Prayer

There are righteous causes worth fighting for. In fact, I
intend to march in favor of one of them on Sunday. NYC is attempting to kick
its churches out of the NYC schools where they rent space on Sunday AM.
I feel that I have a responsibility to uphold the rights of others, especially
as they are being deprived in this hypocritical manner.

While allowing other groups to rent space in the NYC
schools, the City Council is discriminating against it churches, pleading the “separation
of church and state.” Such a charge beckons us to reexamine the First Amendment to our Constitution:

Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There is nothing here about the “separation of church and
state” – just the prohibition against establishing a state religion, and this
is clearly not at issue here. Ironically, NYC’s ruling does establish a law “prohibiting
the free exercise thereof.” Hence, it is the City’s discriminatory law that is unconstitutional – it violates our “free
exercise” – rather than the churches meeting in the schools.

This is just one of many examples of what has become known
as “the war against Christianity.” And I think that this needs to be addressed.
However, this “war” is symptomatic of something far greater – the vulnerability
of the church. We have become marginalized and our voice no longer carries the
moral authority that it once did.

Even if we did have the political strength, this “war” is
nothing that we can simply legislate away. It’s bigger than we are. It
overwhelms our puny resources. However, these threats occur to show us that we
need our Lord’s deliverance!

We have to confess our utter need - our own sins and even
the sins of the church. This has always been a pre-condition for revival and
deliverance. The prophet Daniel humbled himself before the Lord in this manner:

"Lord,
you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame--the men of Judah and people of Jerusalem
and all Israel,
both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us
because of our unfaithfulness to you. O Lord, we and our kings, our
princes and our fathers are covered with shame because we have sinned
against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we
have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the
laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has
transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore the
curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of
God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You
have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by
bringing upon us great disaster.” (Daniel 9:7-12)

And Daniel’s prayer was answered:

While
I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel
and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill-- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the
man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the
time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me… (Daniel 9:20-22)

Whenever God’s people humbled themselves in confession of
sin, they received answers. King Josiah humbled himself:

Because
your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you
heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you
humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I
have heard you, declares the Lord. (2 Chron. 34:27)

The evil King Manasseh was restored after he humbly
confessed his sins:

In his
distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself
greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the Lord
was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back
to Jerusalem
and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God. (2 Chron.
33:12-13

King Hezekiah repented of his pride and also found
deliverance:

Then
Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore
the Lord's wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah. (2
Chron. 32:26)

In fact, we never find anyone in Scripture repenting of
their sin and going away empty handed. The trials that have come upon the
church are an opportunity to examine ourselves, our church, and to cry out to
our Lord, who loves His church beyond words (Eph. 2:16-20).